Friday, December 4th, 2009
Market Wrap-Up for December 4, 2009
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Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPTT), Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM), and National Research Corporation (NRCI) are three featured story stocks as the market ended the week on a high note.
Featured Story Stocks
- Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPTT) – Shares of the renewable energy company moved higher afterhours after it announced that it has selected Oregon Iron Works of Clarkamas to begin construction of its first commercial wave energy PowerBuoy system in North America, to be installed off the Oregon coast near Reedsport. The system will be the first commercial-scale facility of its type in North America.
- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAN) – Shares of the content deliver company rose sharply higher after Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney and Oppenheimer’s Srinivas Anatha lifted their ratings on the company. The analysts see a resurgence in e-commerce in general as well as powerful diversification into value-added services like high-def video. Meanwhile, the company also maintains a strong free cash flow profile in its financials.
- National Research Corporation (NRCI) – Shares of the survey-based performance measurement, improvement services and governance education firm rose sharply higher afterhours after it announced the opening of a new joint-venture bioinformatics laboratory that will create new technologies to assist healthcare providers in diagnosing and treating diseases more quickly and accurately.
Market Summary
U.S. markets moved higher after a choppy session due to a positive jobs report showing slower unemployment growth than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.75, or 0.22%, to 10,388.90, the Nasdaq moved up 21.21, or 0.98%, to 2,194.35, and the S&P 500 moved up 6.06, or 0.55%, to 1,105.98 at the end of the day.
Commodities ended the day on a lower note amid a modest recovery in the U.S. dollar. Light crude moved down $0.99 to $75.47 per barrel while unleaded gasoline moved down $0.02 to $1.98 per gallon. Larger declines were seen in gold, which dropped $49.30 to $1,169 per ounce and silver that is trading down $0.61 to $18.52 per ounce.
Overseas markets were largely higher with the exception of Canada. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE moved up 9.36, or 0.18%, to 5,322.36 and France’s CAC moved up 47.51, or 1.25%, to 3,846.62. In Asia, China’s Shanghai index moved up 52.78, or 1.62%, to 3,317.41 and Japan’s Nikkei moved up 44.92, or 0.45%, to 10,022.59.
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-- Written by Simon Monger
